BlueDV

Treehouse

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An unusual name, but a catchy name no less, just like Peanut that was written by the same person, David PA7LIM. If you like Peanut, then you will like this project also. This project, like Peanut, includes some amazing coding and thinking.

Launched in 2020, the main website for Treehouse is found off David’s web site. This project is a YSF reflector with multiple rooms.

Dashboard

You can see the dashboard via this link http://europelink.pa7lim.nl/ it is a very similar layout to the Peanut one.

If you open the above dashboard, you will see down the left side in the Room Control section, a message stating your hotspot is not logged in to this reflector.

There are several ways you can connect, but here are a few in no particular order.

BlueDV

A friend of mine, Chris, put this video together. He uses BlueDV to get onto it.

YSF – via your hotspot

As I use an Openspot2, my instructions will show you how I do it, however I am sure you can apply similar to your hotspot should you have a different one.

First you need to connect to the YSF reflector called EUROPELINK, and according to the YSD reflector register, this has an ID number of 00007. If you don’t know how I found this, go to the YSF Reflector Registry page and type in EUROPELINK in the search box, and you can see the ID number of 0007.

Back to the Openspot2, I select Quick Setup, then I select DMR, as I am using a DMR radio, then select YSFReflector then in the Server box, I type in 00007 or EUROPELINK, to select that reflector. Doing this will connect my DMR radio to the YSF system.

Almost instantly, the Room Control section of the dashboard has updated to my call sign and I now have a drop-down list where I can select which room I want to connect to. You can then select the room you want.

As you transmit, you will see your call in the Active QSO’s screen.

While this is not connected to the Peanut Dashboard, there will be rooms that go across to each other. The Online Stations section of the Dashboard has the time stations connected.

There is a new AU-NZ room which is good and was quickly made after it was requested to David. Some rooms link just to themselves, like the English room and so on, while others connect beyond the internet. Remember this reflector will get busier as time goes on.

Also, this setup is still very new, and like Peanut, it took a little while to become popular.  Having said that, Peanut took off quickly and given the success of that, and a lot of people at home during the 2020 Pandemic, I believe this will take off quickly also.

Hope you enjoyed this post. Please remember to follow this blog by putting in your email address so you get posts as soon as they are posted.

Want to see other projects that are similar?

Here are some other posts we have done that are similar:

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BlueDV Windows 10 GD-77

Ben11 Comments

I found it hard to find useful information on how to run the OpenGD-77 hotpot mode with Windows 10. At the time of writing this, there is a lot about this topic using a pistar and even android or ISO, but not much with Windows 10. This is my experence with BlueDV and Open GD-77 using a Windows 10 PC.

Someone once asked me after reading this page, why would you want to do this? So I have added this paragraph to try and explain. One reason is to extend your hotspot range. For example, if you use a normal regular hotspot, it will only have a small range around or in the house. If you want to go for a walk or dig in the garden, you either have to take a battery pack to plug your hotspot in and your mobile plus your radio. This is something I have done many time, especially while camping and in outback Australia – I have added a photo of it below. However if you have a spare digital radio, then you can plug in your GD77 into an external antenna and via BlueDV as explained below, and then almost run your own 5W repeater into the talk group you want. I have done this and been able to walk several kms from home and still have full access yet only taking my GD77 radio with me. The other reason you can do this is because you can. To make your own repeater is a bit of fun.

Hotspot with battery pack and mobile phone on a park bench.

Before you read on, it should be noted that the Open GD-77 firmware and software is changing all the time, so some of the steps below may change. I will do my best to keep this page up to date, however please message me or leave a comment if you have any suggestions.

First install the Open GD-77 firmware and comm driver. There are instructions on my other post here.

Then once complete, make sure your GD77 is plugged into your USB on your PC. Then type in Device manager in the Windows 10 search box to open the Device Manager. Go to Ports and there you should see OpenGD77 followed by a COM number. If you do not, then you need to install the Comm Driver again. Take note of this Com number.

Now open the GD-77 CPS Community Edition and once loaded make sure it has an Extras menu between the View and Language menus. Click on the Extras menu and select OpenGD77 support. Click on Read codeplug and make sure that works. Obviously you need the radio plugged in and turned on to do this.

Now download the latest BlueDV install file from the following web site. Make sure you select the Windows version. There may be beta versions available if you want to try them.

Download and then install the msi file inside the zip file.

Keep the radio plugged into the USB port on your PC. Turn on the radio and press the green button to go into the OpenGD77 menu. Scroll down to options and then go up to Hotspot and when on hotspot press the right button until it changes to BlueDv. Press the green button to save.

Next open BlueDV and once opened, click on Menu then Setup. Put in your callsign, then change the serial port radio to the Com port noted earlier. Tick on RX/TX Colors, enter in the Frequency you wish to use, enter your DMR ID in both boxes, then select the Brandmeister DMR Master server you want to connect to and put in your password. Select Save to save these settings and close the setup box.

Now turn on Serial (top left under menu) by pressing the slide switch to the left, and DMR in the BlueDV interface. If you can not turn on DMR then you have the same problem I did, then you have not turned your radio on correctly or turned the hotspot mode on. If you have not turned on the hotspot, see two paragraphs above. Then, make sure the radio is in VFO mode by pressing the red button, you should see two lines of frequencies. Make sure they are both the frequency you are using in BlueDV. Turn your radio off, connect the cable and plug it into the PC, then hold down the small black button above the blue button and PTT button, and while holding the button, turn the radio on. The radio should say Hotspot along the top of the screen.

It should now work. Adjust your power level on this radio and plug into a nice antenna, then you can use another DMR radio on the same frequency and you now have your own hotspot that will cover an area that your GD77 will cover.

If you put in the DStar or Fusion settings, you can cross mode across to these networks also if you use the latest BlueDV version.

For more information, here is a video I found that got me going with this project. If you look at this video from 6:34 you can see how to do it without BlueDV and using MMDVMHost instead.

I hope you have found this useful. Please see below some other similar articles I have written that might be of interest. Please leave me some feedback if this has been of some help.